Palestinian Cabinet Approved, With Few Arafat Allies

By ALAN COWELL

Published: February 25, 2005

The Palestinian parliament overwhelmingly approved a new cabinet on Thursday, composed mainly of professionals rather than politicians, ending days of crisis and marking a break with the Yasir Arafat era.

All but 7 of the 24 cabinet members were newcomers, many of them qualified specialists with doctorates in fields ranging from education to electrical engineering and economics.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and the deputy prime minister, Nabil Shaath, formerly the foreign minister, were among the few who survived a radical pruning of Arafat loyalists that strengthened the reform-minded President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Abbas has pledged to make Palestinian public life more open and effective, reinforcing efforts to secure peace with Israel.

''The majority are new,'' Mr. Shaath told reporters as newly-endorsed ministers, legislators and journalists milled around the courtyard of the parliament, located in a former school here. ''Rejuvenation is the name of the game.'' Saeb Erakat, another Arafat associate who withdrew from the cabinet earlier this week, said: ''What you witnessed is the real democracy of the Palestinian people.''

The outcome reflected a setback for Mr. Qurei, who had started the week by proposing a cabinet list drawn predominantly from the old guard that flourished under Mr. Arafat and was widely seen as corrupt and nepotistic. Legislators protested vehemently, forcing Mr. Qurei during three days of wrangling to include new faces.

Hanan Ashrawi, a prominent legislator, told reporters the creation of the new cabinet was ''a turning point'' in the creation of Palestinian governments ''going beyond political patronage.''

Legislators approved the new cabinet 54 to 10 with four abstentions, voting by a show of hands in a curtained chamber dominated by a portrait of Mr. Arafat. He died last November after overseeing Palestinian politics for decades.

The 84-member legislature is controlled by the Fatah movement of which both Mr. Qurei and Mr. Abbas are veteran leaders. Some legislators did not attend Thursday's vote.

Mr. Abbas, elected last month to replace Mr. Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority, has been under pressure from Palestinians, Americans and Israelis to institute changes, particularly in reorganizing the overlapping security services once controlled by Mr. Arafat.

The approval of the new cabinet was seen by some Israelis as what Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom called ''an important step forward, a positive step towards a better future.''

''But it's only a first step,'' Mr. Shalom added.

''What we would like to see is a new policy of fighting against the extremists and encouraging the moderates to move toward peace and quiet with Israel,'' Mr. Shalom said.

The new cabinet includes some prominent figures such as Nasser Yousef, a former general associated with a crackdown on Islamic militants in the 1990's, and Muhammad Dahlan, a former security chief in Gaza. Both are seen as close to President Abbas.

Mr. Yousef will be the interior minister, with responsibility for the security forces, while Mr. Dahlan will be the civil affairs minister.

Israel is insistent that the new government rein in Islamic militants and provide security against suicide bombings and other attacks.

Mr. Yousef told reporters a ''serious and sincere'' effort would be made to provide security for Palestinians and impose law and order. He said security for Israelis and Palestinians ''complement each other.''

In Thursday's lineup, Nasser al-Kidwa, a former Palestinian representative at the United Nations, became foreign minister and Salam Fayyad remained as finance minister -- a position he has held since 2002 and which he is credited with using to clean up corrupt Palestinian finances.

Many others were technocrats with no mainstream political experience, such as Walid Abed Rabbo, the new agriculture minister.

Asked whether the new government would secure popular backing, he said: ''I am sure we will get the support we want once we offer the right and appropriate agenda.''

Palestinian legislators face elections next July for the first time in nine years. Mr. Shaath, replaced as foreign minister by Mr. Kidwa, described the new cabinet as a ''transitional government'' that was likely to be replaced after the parliamentary vote.

For all the euphoria there were some dissenting voices. Ziad Abu Ein, a supporter of the jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, said the new cabinet derived no credentials from the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation and was therefore unlikely to win popular support.

''We need leaders who can bring people from the street to support the cabinet,'' he said.

The new cabinet's performance is likely to influence next July's elections and some Palestinians, in random interviews here, indicated that they were prepared to offer the cabinet a degree of support.

''They are from among us,'' said Hayat Nabali, a 40-year-old widow and mother of five. ''They can serve the people better. People are looking for something new.''

Equally, though, many people said they were wanted specific, practical measures from the new government, such as the creation of jobs and removal of Israeli roadblocks that hamper travel in many parts of the West Bank.

''Nobody yet knows what they can achieve,'' said Wael Bani Odeh, a 30-year-old cab-driver. Indeed, said Saed Abu Farha, a Palestinian newspaper reporter here, ''the first response is good but people want to see what they can do.''